Cold Air Brake Ducts or How to keep the Brakes Alive for Open Track Events

[GT_350]

OK Here's the mission.

Weekend at Camp Steeda with the SVTOA at Sebring International Raceway.

3.7 mile Road Course, high speeds on the straights (I saw 125 M.P.H.+) so this will be killer on the brakes what to do, what to do.....

Be able to go all out (for me anyway) all weekend and not worry about stopping. Don't want to ditch the wheels and tires (Shelby CS66's and Nitto NT-555's) to put on bigger brakes.

So what to do.............

I called Agent 47 http://www.agentfortyseven.com/home.html (see Grassroots Motorsports Magazine website http://grmotorsports.com/news/index.php?s=mustang ((scroll halfway down to read article)) and this months printed issue, June 2007 for detailed install of the kit) about installing brake cooling ducts on a new Mustang GT. However I have the Shelby/California Special front fascia on my '06 GT and they did not make a cold air duct for this fascia now Cory at Agent 47 related if I could wait a couple of weeks he would be able to do a fast prototype and send me the result!

When he said that I was like do it!

So this is what I got....

There is also a template so you can cut a hole in the lower part of the fascia.

This is behind the two lower fake black grills so if you later remove the kit you can reinstall the two lower pieces and not see the holes.

Here's a close-up of the scoops (flash highlighted dust which wiped off revealing a very nice matte black)

Note tabs which use the factory mounting points.

After install, a couple of hours, wheels, rotors/calipers and dust shield have to be removed to install kit...... can be done in your garage with basic hand tools.......I did it.......jacks and stands are required.......

Note: You don't see the white like you see in this photo, it's just because of the angle I took the picture.

In the paddock at Sebring......

At speed on the front straight......

Now did they work? All the mags berate the Mustangs brakes as prone to fade after a couple of panic stops.......

So I had Hawk HP Plus pads and Brembo LCF 600 brake fluid along with the Agent 47 ducts and I can tell you the car stopped just as hard at the end of a 20 minute track session as it did the beginning.

Do you need a big brake kit? Yes, if you have a power adder, can you keep your stock brakes and calipers on a N/A car, yes....... with a way to draw off heat from the rotors.

So if you have a big brake kit you use this as added insurance to draw off heat and use this if you would like to keep the stock parts alive.......

Now for a pro/con on why I went with this kit and not the Steeda, Shelby or Ford Racing kits.

Steeda's kit is designed for their fascia, they have the "scoops" in the fascia for their kit. You could you use it on your stang yes be you don't get the "ram effect".

Shelby's Kit Hole drilled in lower fascia no "Scoop" no "ram air" effect.

Ford Racing.... $1,199.00 are they kidding? looks like the Shelby kit but no front screen like the Shelby kit, but it is the offical part off of the FR500 race car.... No Picture.....

No I don't work for Agent 47 and I paid full price... Hey Cory if you like this you can always refund me half...........

View attachment 388232

 

[Osiris]

Looks great...

I love some of the stuff they carry ( those ram air headlight deletes are simply bad ass ) but the stuff is really costly....

Still...gonna have to keep some of this stuff in mind....

 

[wotfr]

OK now here's the redneck way to do it. You go on ShopVac's website and order four of their car cleaning kits: $10.69 EA. + shipping. Now all you need out of these six piece kits is the 10' X 1.25" hose and the Gulper Nozzle which is approx. 1.25" X 5". Now if you are I true redneck you'll take these parts out and send the rest back claiming you never received them, but I wouldn't recommend that. Now that you have forty feet of hose and four nozzles you need a way to mount them all. So now comes the tricky part you need a piece of sheet metal (aluminum or stainless steel) the length of the inside of your front fascia and the width to be determined by the nozzles. Again if you are a true redneck you would think, hmm alum. siding, well whatever works for ya. Now that we have our siding or sheet metal we need some holes eight to be precise. Four of them rectangular along one edge of the siding, I mean sheet metal, w/ the long side of the rectangle parallel to the length of the sheet metal/siding. Now spacing of these holes will depend on material strength and thickness for stainless 0.056 and thicker you need a good 3/8 inch and for aluminum I would go at least a 1/2 inch now the dimensions of these holes is determinate on the aforementioned nozzles. OK now we need four more holes these will be ovular w/ the long axis perpendicular to the long axis of your sheet metal and edge spacing shall be the same as above. The short axis of these ovals should exceed the O.D. of the round end of your nozzle. Now the length of the long axis and the overall width of the sheet metal I will leave to you, because now we get to the bends. You will need on your rectangular side the aforementioned edge spacing times two plus the width of the nozzle, so for stainless of around 0.056 or more two inches and for aluminum two and one-quarter ( for those of you still reading, siding won't work very well I would recommend at least 0.072 for aluminum) to the first of two bends on the lineal axis at approx. 90 degrees. Now to determine the width of the sheet metal, the angle of the next bend and the length of the long axis of your ovals, take one of your nozzles and a piece of paper. Draw two lines 90 degrees from another intersecting near a corner of said paper. Now lay your 'nozzle' w/ the big end parallel to the short end of the paper and the little end angling towards the line parallel to long end. Now apply previously mentioned edge spacings times two from the 90 degree angle w/ at least an extra 1/8 inch to compensate for the bends and also keeping in mind that this space must accomodate whatever mounting hardware you choose to use. With that dimension acquired we can now determine the angle of the second bend and the overall width of your sheet metal. I would go with an angle that is less than 90 degrees as you will have to insert your nozzles into this piece when all is said and done. Now apply the same edge spacing to each side and trace your angle. Geometry and common sense should help most of you. Now you will need several long wire ties, as you will be sizing your hose (not going anywhere for awhile, keep your snickers to a minimum). You will need to mount or graphically visualize your mounting (what did I just say about snickers) of your sheet metal, and connect one hose individually to each nozzle. Now stay with me, because I know I haven't told you where to place each rectangle and oval and therefore nozzle and subsequently hose on the long axis of your sheet metal, but here is where your personal flare comes in. As long as you don't come with in the edge spacing rule I have set in place your nozzles can be butt against each other, even sanded down to where they no longer have an outer edge, conjoining the two, in which case you will only need six holes. Contrarily you can have your nozzles equidistant from one another, provided you don't encroach upon the edge spacing rule on each end. Now that you have an idea of where you want these to be it's time to face reality, you may need a jack and a couple of jackstands, and maybe a roller-creeper (trying to avoid any redneck puns here, the brave new world we now live in PC, means Peeing Contest 'don't you just love that this aside was brought to you politically correctly'). OK, so the frontend is now appropriately elevated ( after you spent all that money on lowering springs or silicone ). You should be under it now, looking to where you want to mount your sheet metal assembly, and from there your nozzles and now your hoses. All you will need is a nozzle, a hose, and a marker. Connect the hose to the nozzle and sniff the marker.
OOOK, now place the nozzle approx. where it will be after you have mounted the air dam/sheet metal. Working from one side to the other, leaving two hoses for each disc. Now I should have told you paint marker, as you will not only be marking your outside nozzle dimensions, you will also be marking your hose for your final cut-to-length dimensions. With that in mind now I should mention where your hoses should outlet. Brakes turn your cars forward momentum into turning momentum into heat through friction. That being said your rotors are going to heat up, and that is why I am writing this rant-novel (OK that and the fact that I work nights, am currently on nicotine patches and drinking vodka 'it helps me sleep'). You must now decide where your hoses are going to outlet. The primary site of heating is the pads and the rotors. While you might think that the rotors need all the cooling, the pads have a smaller surface area and are only exposed to air around the edges so they deserve some attention as well. I would suggest one hose on the leading edge of the caliper ( at the bottom ), facing rearward, w/ approx. half of the airstream hitting the rotor and the other half hitting the pad/ caliper. Then the other hose near the trailing edge of the caliper ( top ) pointing about 60% towards the rotor and 40% towards the caliper. Now keep in mind your end mounting must turn with the wheels, so secure them appropriately.
Wow, that was a long paragraph full of sentences that begin with a preposition. My English teacher was right my grammar sucks.
This rant-novel has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This rant-novel is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.Dramatization. Individual results may vary. Use at your own risk. Results not typical.

 

[seanthenerd]

Man that looks slick! Besides cutting a hole in the fascia do you need to cut anything else to get the tubing into the right place. And how is the air duct secured to the vehicle? I have been considering getting a setup like this, but have not been able to get much info on the installation and all of what is required to do to your car. I really do not like cutting into a perfectly good mustang.

 

[wotfr]

Sorry.

 

[wotfr]

And, oh yeah, welcome to
:SNSign:.

 

[GT_350]

Man that looks slick! Besides cutting a hole in the fascia do you need to cut anything else to get the tubing into the right place. And how is the air duct secured to the vehicle? I have been considering getting a setup like this, but have not been able to get much info on the installation and all of what is required to do to your car. I really do not like cutting into a perfectly good mustang.

If you have a stock front GT fascia you did not need to cut anything (I HAVE THE SHELBY GT/CALIFORNIA SPECIAL FRONT END SO I HAD TO CUT), remove your lower stock grill and you will see Ford put two rectangle holes in the grill. Just replace the stock piece with the Agent 47 piece.

look at the next photo and you will see the Agent 47 lower grill will go into the stock opening and the scoops will then go throught the fasica. This part also has tabs that use the Ford mounting points......

the two "elbows" see above bolt to the lower grill all you have to do is cut the hose in half and mount (this in not a cheap plastic hose but a high temp hose with stainless steel wire in the coil)

the hose conects to the hose brackets where the factory dust shield was (see below)

Look in the below photo and you will see a couple of zip ties locate the hose so it does not move the hose is conected to the lower grill the a stainlees steel hose clamp as is the peice of hose on the rotor side. Trust me it works....

let me know if you need further......

 

[A&B 06GT]

Those look so good.... too bad the intercooler in the way

 

[northy_polk]

i don't want to post the document here, but if you email steeda they may just send you the instructions for their kit and you'll get a better idea of what's involved.


GT_350: so you ran the stock rotors and lines? and did you drain the stock brake fluid and replace it when you were done with the Camp? I'm trying to decide how I want my setup. Thanks!

 

[GT_350]

i don't want to post the document here, but if you email steeda they may just send you the instructions for their kit and you'll get a better idea of what's involved.


GT_350: so you ran the stock rotors and lines? and did you drain the stock brake fluid and replace it when you were done with the Camp? I'm trying to decide how I want my setup. Thanks!

Prior to the Camp I added Goodridge braided stainless steel brake lines, flushed the brake system with a power bleeder adding Brembo LCF 600 Brake Fluid, Hawk Performance HP brake pads and the Agent 47 brake ducts.

Kept the stock rotors thinking if I heated them up and warpped one replacements are only 40 bucks through one of the companies that sell the take off parts from Roush, Steeda and Saleen.......However the stock rotors are fine no cracks, no blueing

The car STOPS now...... and keeps on stopping......

I also have the Ford Racing Handling Pack, BMR Lower Control Arms, BMR Lower control arm relocation brackets, a BMR Adjustable Panhard Rod, Nitto NT555 tires, got the car a four wheel alignment, the front end had the stock mustnag alignment only adding 2 degrees negitve chamber......

Hope this helps.....

 

[northy_polk]

well, you certainly have a good setup! [offtopic: are you covered by a supplemental ins policy?].

i'll do something similar eventually.

Qs: power bleeder???? is this your equip or a shops? and when you were finished did you drain the 600 and put back in the DOT2 or 3?

sorry for all the qs, just trying to learn from somebody that had success with his setup!!!! ive got the Steeda pro action shocks, sport springs, X5 balljoints, Gtrac brace, and endlinks and the BMR Aarms. Next up is the adj LCA/relocation bracket install and panhard/brace install, then. . . . you get the idea. This car is a money vortex that sucks the money straight out of my bank account!

 

[Jenns01TA]

wotfr that write up was awesome. LOL... Backyard engineering and functional at that!

~J~

 

[seanthenerd]

GT_350,

Thanks man that explained exactly what I was asking about. The pictures helped a ton as well...

thanks again man

 

[GT_350]

well, you certainly have a good setup! [offtopic: are you covered by a supplemental ins policy?].

i'll do something similar eventually.

Qs: power bleeder???? is this your equip or a shops? and when you were finished did you drain the 600 and put back in the DOT2 or 3?

sorry for all the qs, just trying to learn from somebody that had success with his setup!!!! ive got the Steeda pro action shocks, sport springs, X5 balljoints, Gtrac brace, and endlinks and the BMR Aarms. Next up is the adj LCA/relocation bracket install and panhard/brace install, then. . . . you get the idea. This car is a money vortex that sucks the money straight out of my bank account!

Don't worry about the questions....I've asked them to....

1. Insurance Policy: my insurance company covers me at Open Track Events that are titled as driver education/driver improvement. During these events you have classroom time as well as track time with an instructor. Also these are noncompetive, no lap times and no passing unless you are in a "passing zone" along the straights. So they said OK and it's documented in my policy. No extra charge.

2. I only drive the car on weekends and once in a while to work the Brembo is OK with our cars brake system so I'll change it out in the week before my next track event but I will put the stock pads back on at the next weeend so I keep the dust down.

It's just a fact of life it you do open track events you will have increased maintenance......... changing pads fluid, rotors, tires......etc.....

Now for the power bleeder....... These only cost about 55 to 60 bucks....... Look at what a shop charges and then do it yourself........same with changing pads...........

Now you can bleed hydraulic braking and clutch systems like the pros with a Power Brake Bleeder.

This unit operates just like the professional mechanics' tool - at a fraction of the price.

Easy one-person operation means you won't need to ask a helper to pump the pedal while you open and close the bleed valves.
Corrosion-proof design for years of maintenance free service.
Hand operated pump works anywhere - great for the home, shop, or track.
This unit uses pressurized brake fluid to force air and contamination out of your lines and cylinders, so you'll get all the air out of your system the first time you bleed. No more bleeding and re-bleeding to get an air-free system.

 

[wotfr]

wotfr that write up was awesome. LOL... Backyard engineering and functional at that!

~J~

Thanks, I was wired cause my springs had just arrived (no puns, please) and couldn't sleep.

 

[northy_polk]

it WAS a great write up. . . but do you have a great "photo up" or "video up" for those of us that are visual learners????

 

[northy_polk]

so if you don't mind my asking, which insurance company do you use? i haven't found anyone yet whose insurance will explicitly cover this stuff. thanks!